It has been confirmed that there have been eight suicide attempts by US Navy personnel assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand confirmed to The Guardian an earlier report from CNN that the acting US Navy secretary, Hung Cao, told her in a letter on Tuesday that there have been "eight suicide attempts" by US Navy personnel assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group since the start of their lengthy deployment as part of the US war on Iran.
Gillibrand also provided a copy of Cao's written responses to her questions to The Guardian.
The revelation about the attempted suicides came in response to the fifth of the senator's 12 questions. Here is the full text of the exchange:
"5. Have there been any suicides aboard the ship during this deployment? How many instances of detected suicidal ideation or attempted self-harm, including attempts to go overboard, has the Department recorded?"
"There have been no suicides onboard during this deployment. Since the beginning of LINCOLN's deployment, there have been a total of eight suicide attempts across the strike group - this number includes the LINCOLN crew and Sailors from the carrier air wing, strike group and destroyer squadron staff, escorting destroyers, and all embarked aviation squadrons."
In a statement to The Guardian, Gillibrand said: "What Trump and Secretary Hegseth dismissed as 'fake news' turned out to be serious and deteriorating conditions for our service members. Our troops and their families make immense sacrifices every single day, yet the president dismissed them with open disrespect. That this administration can find endless taxpayer dollars for bombs, ballrooms, and billionaires, but cannot take care of our service members, is completely unacceptable."
Here is the complete text of Cao's response to Gillibrand's questions:
In response to the fifth of the senator's 12 questions, acting US Navy secretary Hung Cao clarified that there have been eight suicide attempts across the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, but no suicides onboard the ship. This number includes the LINCOLN crew and Sailors from the carrier air wing, strike group and destroyer squadron staff, escorting destroyers, and all embarked aviation squadrons.
The information emerged during the lengthy deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group as part of the US war on Iran. According to Senator Gillibrand, Trump and Secretary Hegseth had previously dismissed this information as "fake news", but it points to serious and deteriorating conditions for service members.
Gillibrand criticized the administration for being unable to find funds to take care of service members while allocating endless money for bombs, ballrooms, and billionaires. She called this completely unacceptable.
In the fifth of the senator's 12 questions, she asked whether there had been any suicides aboard the ship, and how many instances of detected suicidal ideation or attempted self-harm, including attempts to go overboard, had been recorded. Cao's response stated that there have been no suicides onboard, but eight suicide attempts across the strike group.
This situation raises concerns about the psychological state of US Navy personnel during lengthy deployments. Senator Gillibrand criticized the administration's treatment of service members and demanded recognition of their sacrifices.